Super Bowl Home Game Plan: Confidence & Chicken Wings

MARSTONS MILLS – For the Super Bowl, Wayne Tuttle had to get out of Philadelphia.

“I can’t take Philadelphia fans,” said Tuttle, who was born and raised in Boston, but has lived in Philadelphia for the last 20 years. “They’re just mean.”

And so Tuttle, with his 7-year-old grandson, Mason, came to visit friends and relatives on the Cape for a Super Bowl party in Cotuit.

Grandfather and grandson, smiling ear to ear and wearing matching Patriots hats, had just finished some last minute party food shopping at Stop & Shop. They were happy to have their feet planted firmly on New England soil on this Super Bowl Sunday when the Patriots are playing the Philadelphia Eagles.

Tuttle, who said he wears Patriots gear “24/7”, said the last couple of weeks in Philadelphia have been a particularly difficult.

Tom Flint: “I’m confident, absolutely.”

“I go to Weight Watchers, and this old guy, over 80, starts giving it to me,” said Tuttle. “I’m from Boston, I’ve got that East Coast attitude, but come on, this guy is like 80. What am I going to do, get into it with him?”

So after several incidents like that, Tuttle decided to take his grandson, also a Patriots fan, to some friendly territory for the game. Mason’s school was having an Eagles rally and all the kids were supposed to wear green. “He was too nervous to wear his Patriots stuff,” said Tuttle.

All across New England, happy and confident fans were flocking to grocery stores today to buy the essentials of what has become an annual event, a New England Patriots Super Bowl. Tuttle traveled far to be part of it on friendly turf.

Tom Flint of Marstons Mills plans to have chips and wings while watching at home with his son. “I’m confident, absolutely. There’s never any doubt with the Patriots,” he said.

Taylor Apuzzo and Karen Warsierski of Marstons Mills are going with family to a party and bringing their light that reflects the team logo on their house to the party they are attending, where there will be a lot of food. What kind? “Oh everything,” said Apuzzo. “You want to come? We’ll probably have enough food to feed an army.”

Kathy Sylvester. Her husband and and oldest daughter are at the game.

Kathy Sylvester of Osterville will be watching the game with two of her children and their significant others, she said, while loading Patriots helium balloons into her car.

Her husband and oldest daughter won’t be at the party. They are in Minneapolis, at the game.

Sylvester said she doesn’t think she will be texting too much with her husband during the game. She said he will be busy with other things at the once in a lifetime event that he is attending for the second time. He is 1-1 in Super Bowls, and they have four children, so they need one more after this, she said.

Sylvester, who was born in Boston, just moved back to New England after many years in New Jersey, which, of course, has many Eagles fans. She said she was happy to be in New England for the game and, like everyone in the parking lot of a grocery store on Cape Cod, she predicted the Patriots would win the game.

And of course, Tuttle and his grandson predicted a win. Mason predicted a 21-0 shutout.

But Tuttle said, “I would even be okay with losing the Super Bowl if they would just quit singing that song, ‘Fly, Eagles Fly!” The song, apparently, is rather popular in Philadelphia. “If they would just quit singing that song,” he said, his voice trailing off.

Wayne Tuttle and his grandson, Mason.

Tuttle said he has never missed watching a Patriots game and even his dog, a yellow lab named Coda, is a fan. Coda watches every game and has learned that whenever the Patriots score, Coda gets a cookie.

Tuttle said his daughter, in Philadelphia, has instructions to make sure Coda gets cookies. Tuttle, supremely confident, nevertheless expressed some nervousness that his daughter would forget to give Coda a cookie.

One expects, sometime before the game, Tuttle will contact his daughter and remind her, and his dog, Coda, to do their job.

About the author

Brian Tarcy

Brian Tarcy is co-founder of Cape Cod Wave. He is a longtime journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, Boston magazine, the Cape Cod Times and several other publications. He is the author of "YOU CAN'T SELL RIGHT FIELD; A Cape Cod Novel." He is also the author or co-author of more than a dozen mostly non-fiction books, including books with celebrity athletes Cam Neely, Tom Glavine and Joe Theisman. His previous book was, "ALMOST: 12 Electric Months Chasing A Silicon Valley Dream" with Hap Klopp,who created the iconic brand, The North Face.
For more information, see Briantarcy.com
Brian is a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan with a long-running NFL predictions/political satire column connecting weekly world events to the fate of his favorite team at Whatzgonnahappen.com